Promises
by 7orly7
Summary: After Ellie and Joel go back to Tommy's town, Joel thought they could build a new better life. He was wrong. "Relationships cannot be formed around lies and broken promises, since they only cause instability and pain"
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hi, however you are

This is my first fanfic J

Please note that English is not my first language, so if there's any grammatical errors warn me

Its been white a while I wanted to do this, im kinda anxious and afraid because I do not know what kind of review I'll receive.

For now I'll only upload this chapter but I got 4 other almost ready (need to review them) and im working in chapter 6. I first wrote them using paper and pencil, so it can take a while to "transfer" to the computer.

Any review is welcome

* * *

The Promise

Ellie knew that Joel was lying, after all that time living with him she knew when he was bullshitting her. But with all that time together she also learned to trust his decisions cause if wasn't for him they wouldn't have come this far.

When they arrived at Tommy's town Joel told Tommy the same thing he told Ellie.

"They stop looking for a cure", Joel said.

Of course Tom knew he was lying the fireflies wouldn't let Ellie and Joel go away even if there were dozens of immune people, but Tom knew that if Joel lost Ellie all his hope and happiness would fade away. When Sarah died Joel became depressed and even tried to end with his own life.

"I don't want to see my big brother ever again like that" he thought.

So how he could deny a home to his brother and niece?

As one of the Tom's men guided Joel and Ellie to their new home, Tom and Maria watched them by the distance.

"Do you really think the Fireflies would give up in finding a cure Tommy?".

"No, but I trust my brother. Let's just hope that whatever he did back in the hospital doesn't give Ellie some nightmares". He said as Ellie and Joel happily walked in the direction of their new home to start a new life.

Ellie was walking in a long, dark and cold corridor; she was wearing a hospital gown which made her feel even colder. However that was not the worst part. She was alone.

"Where the fuck am I?"

She continued walking fruitlessly, as the corridor didn't seemed to have a beginning or a end.

Gunfire and screams could be heard from behind the doors of the corridor; making fear and the sensation of helpless fill her heart.

"Ellie…"

It was a familiar voice calling her from behind.

"Marlene?" Ellie called as she turned around expecting to see her second mother.

But there was nothing, just the long creepy corridor she was walking on.

As she started to turn around to continue walking, a hand colder than ice grabbed her feet.

She looked down and saw Marlene lying on the ground with a wounded leg and a pool of blood around her.

"Help….."

Before Ellie could do anything Marlene's head blew off.

* * *

"FUCK!"

She waked up screaming, sweating with her heart racing.

"Shit….. Why these nightmares can't leave me alone?"

Ellie curled up trying to calm herself.

Ever since winter started she was having horrible nightmares, and most of them involved David.

"Well at least this one was different…." She whispered, trying to comfort herself.

In many of those nightmare she end up dying stabbed, burned or eaten by a pack of clickers. However these were nothing, in other nightmares there were worst things than death.

Thought the glass of the window she could see flocks of snow falling slowly from the sky.

As Ellie get off her bed she wondered why Joel didn't showed up after her scream, he always went running after she had a nightmare.

"He's probably sleeping like a rock" she thought

Ever since they arrived at Tommy's town Joel rarely had nightmares, she envied him.

After putting some winter clothes she headed to Joel's room

"Joel?"

The door was open and the only thing on top of his bed was a note:

_"Baby girl_

_I just went to the woods with some of Tommy's men to hunt._

_I should come back soon._

_Joel"_

She gave a sigh.

The rifle, revolver and bow were missing, but Joel's backpack was in his room.

Joel rarely used his backpack in a hunt now since Ellie and Maria made a special jacket with pouches that could carry ammo, med kits, molotovs and other useful gear without putting too much weight on his back.

After slowly eat her breakfast and finishing it, Ellie felt bored.

There was almost nothing to do, the adults in town wouldn't let her help with most of the work, saying that she should concentrate in study and often treating her as a child.

2 years have passed since they had arrived at the town, Ellie was 17 now.

Tommy had made a school so all children and teenagers could have what he called a normal life. Ellie hated going at school since most of the things she learned she considered useless, besides most of students were way younger or if they had a similar age they were dumb.

She wasn't a kid anymore, not after all the shit she's been thought and she had killed so many people…

The other option was to reread all her savage starlight comics….. for the 17th time.

She didn't like staying there doing nothing, it made her feel useless, it made her remember the things she wanted to forget and also made her think why Joel had lied to her. Because obviously Marlene wouldn't give up in finding a cure all that easily, and besides even when there were dozens of people like her the Fireflies wouldn't have let her go.

Maybe Joel negotiated with Marlene? No Joel wasn't a diplomatic guy, everyone that entered in his way end up dead.

But why would Joel kill the Fireflies? They were the good guys.

Joel would only kill them if they were trying to kill her, but why kill the only girl known to be immune?

These questions passed thought her mind over and over but she couldn't find a answer for them all.

Ellie tried to remember the good things in an attempt to make herself feel better: Joel's reactions when she told him one of her "stupid jokes", she meeting Henry and Sam, the giraffes, when Joel taught her how to swim, the good sensation when they found ammo, food, logs and diaries….

"Wait a moment" she whispered

Joel always kept any diary or log he found during their journey, so what if he got some of those inside the Fireflies Lab?

He wasn't at home and his backpack was at his bedroom…

"But it wouldn't be wrong to check his backpack?" she asked herself

"Fuck it…..I'll take a quick look"

She quickly ran to his bedroom and opened Joel's backpack, there was some ammo, molotovs, a nail bomb, a black rifle that generally the military used in Boston QZ…..

After some time of searching she found them, most of them she saw Joel picking up but she never seen those recorders before….

She grabbed a white recorder and pushed the play button:

It was a male voice, probably a scientist.

"_April 28th. Marlenewas right. The girl's infection is like nothing I've ever seen. The cause of her immunity is uncertain. As we've seen in all past cases, the antigenic titers of the patient's Cordycepsremain high in both the serum and the cerebrospinal fluid…."_

The rest she didn't understood very well since it was full of scientific and technical words.

She went to the next recorder:

It was… Marlene?

"_It's 5:30PM on... April 28th. I just finished speaking... More like yelling at our head surgeon. Apparently there's no way to extricate the parasite without eliminating the host. Fancy way of saying we gotta kill the fucking kid. And now they're asking for my go ahead. The tests just keep getting harder and harder, don't they? I'm so tired. I'm exhausted and I just want this to end... So be it."_

"They needed me to…. Die?" she though shocked

"Marlene promised that she would take care of me, she wouldn't let it happen. Would she?"

Hesitantly she went to the last recorder and pushed the button:

_"Hey Anna... It's been awhile since we spoke. I uh... I just gave the go ahead to proceed with the surgery. I really doubt I had much of a choice, asking me was more of a formality. I need you to know that I've kept my promise all these years... despite everything that I was in charge of, I looked after her. I would've done anything for her, and at times..._

_Here's a chance to save us... all of us. This is what we were after... what you were after. They asked me to kill the smuggler. I'm not about to kill the one man in this facility that might understand the weight of this choice. Maybe he can forgive me. Oh, I miss you, Anna. Your daughter will be with you soon."_

"Oh my god, if Joel heard all those recorders… Then… He killed them, the guards, Marlene, maybe even the surgeons." She muttered

Ellie was shocked, she wanted so hard to believe that this was another nightmare. She closed her eyes tight, but when opening them she was still there.

Silence filled the room, just as sadness filled her eyes with tears.

* * *

A/N: yeah, this chapter is sad. But its kinda difficult to try write something happy while I'm sad.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey guys second chapter :)

I noticed that my first chapter already got some readers some minutes ago, but no reviews :(

Please post a review so at least I will know that im not losing my time posting these stories

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Hunt

Joel didn't really enjoyed to hunt with Tommy's man, they were good people but Joel could feel that they were afraid of him.

He couldn't blame them, every time some bandits tried to invade the town Joel would help defend it. His ways to brutally kill the bandits even when one of them surrendered, made him well known by the town inhabitants, as well as his high body count.

He just wanted to hunt with somebody he could trust like Ellie or Tommy, but Ellie was tired cause of the nightmares and Tommy's wife kind of scared him.

"if something happens to my husband is all on you"

He never forgot the way Maria looked at him while she said that, guess she was the only woman in the town that could make him scared.

And his brother didn't let him hunt alone because

"if something happens to you I'm pretty sure Ellie will kill me"

Joel put these thoughts aside, he needed to concentrate in finding at least a deer and besides he really wanted to go back ASAP. Ellie hated being alone.

"There's nothing in this part of the woods." He thought

Joel's group moved deeper in to the Woods, praying to find something edible and hoping to not encounter any clickers or hunters.

2 hours later...

Joel couldn't hide the smile in his face, the Deer he just shot with the bow end up running and leading them right next to some rabbit holes.

The result was 1 deer and 4 rabbits, it wouldn't last very long but they wouldn't come back with empty hands.

Going back was difficult with the extra weight, but he could tell that the group's mood became better. He heard:

"Well guess Tom was right in putting trust on you Joel" it was Victor, a man with almost at the same age as Joel.

"Yeah, but I recommend keep your mouth shut, the last thing I need is a bunch of clickers or hunters right at our asses because their heard your talking" Joel said in a rude tone.

Ellie insisted to Joel to be at least a little more kind with the others; he would do anything for her but sometimes...

"Shit sorry" Victor whispered.

After that the rest became more alert, they had understood Joel's message: don't let your guard down.

After arriving at Jackson Joel was broken, his leg muscles felt like they were burning, his feet was begging for some rest and he was winded.

"Guess age is starting to affect you old brother" Tommy joked

Joel was so tired that he didn't even noticed his brother before right next to the gate.

"I'm... Just... a bit...winded" Joel said in a sarcastic tone in long pauses, as he struggled to breathe.

"So how was the hunt?"

Joel just pointed at the direction of where the deer was.

"Nice work, thanks big brother and go get some rest ok?"

"You don't even need to said it" Joel said as he started walking in the direction of his house.

As he entered there was no sign of Ellie.

"She's probably still sleeping" he thought

He went as quietly as possible to his bedroom, he didn't wanted to wake up his baby girl.

As he walked in he noticed that his backpack was open, also there was something written on the note he left for Ellie.

"YOU BROKE YOUR PROMISE"

These words hit Joel hard, it felt like a sharp cold knife stabbing him at his heart.

Joel knew what promise she was talking about.

He started to feel desperate, because if Ellie left a note it meant that she...

"She wouldn't leave, would she?" Joel asked himself.

He ran to Ellie's bedroom calling her name, there wasn't a sign of her or her backpack.

The window was opened, the cold air filled the room as well as sadness filled Joel's heart.


	3. Chapter 3

Ellie jumped when she heard the front door opening.

"He's here" she thought

She quickly grabbed a pencil and wrote on Joel's note.

"Ellie?" She heard him calling

Before heading to her bedroom Ellie grabbed Joel's black rifle and the only 2 magazines for it, then she ran quietly to her bedroom, putted the rifle and magazines inside her backpack, place it at her back. She put her pistol at her right pocket and her switchblade at her left pocket.

As the sound of steps kept getting closer, Ellie felt anger and sadness fill her heart.

"I swear"

"Liar" she thought

She didn't wanted to hear him he would just tell her more lies, as she was opening the window to escape she heard Joel scream:

"Ellie!"

And she ran as she kept hearing Joel desperately call her

All her life Ellie was afraid to be alone, but now she wanted to be alone and she knew a place. However she would need a horse.

As she went to the stable an old man greeted her:

"Hi Ellie, what are doing out here in the cold? You are gonna get sick"

She recognized him, he was Marcus Johnson, a kind man but always treated her as a child.

"Tommy asked me to check the horses" she lied quickly, while she smiled making her innocent girl face trying to hide all her sadness.

"I see, well it was good to see you. Have a nice day darling"

"You too"

As he turned away she quickly ran to the stable, the last thing she wanted was Joel finding her.

The front gate was still opened

"This shit is stuck man! It won't close" one of the guards shouted

As she silently entered the backdoor she noted that Mr Robert, the responsible of taking care of the horses, was sleeping.

Luckily one of the horses was already gear up for a ride.

"Perfect" she thought

She opened the doors of the stable ran to a horse, mounted it and made it run at full speed.

After 2 seconds she could hear Robert scream

"Not again! Get back here!"

She didn't had any trouble crossing the gate since it was still stuck.

Many guards tried to stop or convince her to stop, all in vain.

As she advanced through the old road she had to stop since it was blocked by rocks.

"Great I forgot about it"

But she suddenly remembered about the hidden path, so she turned the horse around and eventually found it.

Ellie wanted to go to the hospital but she wanted to stop at the old farm house so she could plan a path.

It wasn't the best place to hide from Joel but she didn't have a lot of options.

The cold was really intense but she was determinated to go on.

After some minutes she could see the farmhouse, suddenly her horse stopped.

"What's wr-?"

Somehow a runner appeared out of nowhere, making the horse panic.

She felt on her back and the palm of her left hand end up landing on a sharp twig.

It didn't passes through her hand but the pain was intense.

Ellie fought against the pain trying to remain conscious.

"Fuck!" Screaming made easier to handle the pain, but also got the attention of the runners in the area.

8 runners run at her direction, she tried to reach her pistol but there was no time... They were already close...

Ellie closed her eyes and prepared to die.

One of them yell and then...

Bang

Gunshots?

Was it Joel?

She opened her eyes and saw all the runners were dead, and in front of her stood a group of 4 men.

"Well well well... Look who we found, looks like your crazy daddy isn't here to save your ass Ellie" the tallest man spoke

"Who the fuck are you? How do you know my name?"

"Oh comon you little brat, did you already forgot about David and all those YOU killed!?" the other man talked

They didn't were pointing their guns at her

"Look she impaled her hand and didn't shot those infected, she's probably all of ammo. Hehehe. I think we should have some fun with this bi-"

Without thinking Ellie draw her pistol and shot 4 times,

Hitting 2 of the Hunters in the head, the other in the heart, but entirely missing the fourth shot since the last man ducked.

Click

Click

The slide of her pistol was lock open, indicating that the gun was empty.

"I know that sound, now I'll have some fun then kill you... slowly" said in a maniac way

He quickly went on top of her overpowering her, as he throw her pistol away.

"Get off me you motherfucker!"

She grabbed her switchblade out of her pocket, and stabbed him at the torso. But nothing happened.

The man quickly disarmed her

"help!"

"Surprised? I'm using a bulletproof vest, you-"

"Fuck you!" Ellie shouted as she struggled to get him off.

"You are so annoying! Go to sleep!"

His hands were around her neck

She couldn't ... Breathe

Her vision were darkening

"Joel...

Where

Are

You?"


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry, the last 3 chapters were kinda sad. Maybe that happened cause I was unhappy.

And please leave a review

* * *

He breathed slowly trying to keep his aim steady, and started to pull the trigger

Puff

He saw The head of the clicker blew off through his scope.

Then he aimed to the next, and repeated the process until the area was clear.

"Colonel just found and neutralized a bunch of clickers at sector 14, awaiting further instructions" he said at the radio

"Roger, go back to the checkpoint we cannot ris-"before his superior could finish the Sargent interrupted

"With all respect sir I almost finished checking this sector, let me finish my job. I won't fallback just because I found 11 clickers"

"Listen I cannot risk losing you-"

"And what if she's here colonel? All these clickers were looking for someone. And besides I can feel that I am getting closer"

The colonel gave a sigh, it wasn't the first and not the last time Sargent Harold challenges an order.

But the old man knew that his fellow marksman had a good instinct.

"Point taken Sargent, go ahead but DO NOT get yourself killed son"

"Copy. Keep radio silence. Over and out"

Harold ejected the magazine of his m16. Empty. He checked the chamber. 1 cartridge.

He put a fresh mag.

"It's colder than hell" he whispered

It was cold but he loved the winter he could easily become invisible thanks to his white camouflage.

He thanked God that his rifle had a suppressor and used a special caliber making it silent and deadly, he also thanked for all his training and most importantly he thank his colonel.

Amen.

"Pitstop is over" he thought

He stand up and started to walk in the direction the clickers were trying to run.

They were going to the Woods.

He saw a trail of steps.

"a horse passed here" he whispered to himself.

Horses were not part of the local fauna.

"Bingo" he thought

He sprinted following the trail.

After some minutes he stopped, he didn't wanted to his heartbeat to accelerate too much or else it could affect his accuracy.

He checked his six he didn't saw but could hear runners coming.

Sargent covered himself with the white cape, and went prone.

The infected passed right through him.

By the sound of the steps it was approximately 8 or 7 runners.

When it sounded safe he checked around, stand up and continue to sprint.

"Yeah something it's calling their attention for sure " he though

bang

Many gunshots cold be heard ahead

A part of him really hoped to see the girl ahead, but the other part... 8 runners against a girl... Even if she was with the crazy man she didn't stand a chance.

4 more shots could be heard.

He had to hurry.

As he sprinted he kept his rifle ready

"...ound, now I'll have some fun then kill you... slowly"

He heard a male voice, probably 130m from where the he was

Harold walked silently and as fast as he could.

"Get of me you motherfucker!"

It was a teenage girl's voice maybe at 100meters

"Help!"

70meters

"I'm getting close but can't see with all these trees" he though

The plants around that helped him to camouflage himself, now were preventing him to see what was ahead.

He heard what seemed to be 2 people fighting each other

"Surprise! I'm using a bulletproof best you bi-"

40m.

"I need to hurry" he thought as he started to sprint. Advancing too slowly would not help in saving the girl's ass.

"Fuck you"

20m.

"You're so annoying! Go to sleep!"

10m

Finally he made all through the leaves and trees, he could see a guy strangling somebody.

The hunter released his grip of her neck when he noted she was unconscious

Harold was in a bad position, trying to shoot the SOB could kill the girl since the bullet would pass through the hunter's body.

Then he slowly approached...

"Time to have some f-"

Before he could finish the phrase Harold quickly chokeholded The hunter, the guy a was a piece of shit but he would need him alive for a little longer.

After the bastard blacked out, he quickly ran to the girl and crouched to check her vitals.

Still breathing and a pulse, at least the hunter strangled her for a short time.

He noticed a switchblade and a pistol near her, he put them inside his backpack. He put her backpack in front of him.

He looked again at her and there was a broken twig that punctured her hand. It was bleeding, but not at a alarming rate.

He grabbed her and put her over his left shoulder, and draw his pistol.

Standing up became more difficulty, the extra weight was difficult to handle.

"Now I need to find a safe place..." He thought

Harold didn't needed to look hard; nearby there was an old farmhouse.

"Thank you Jesus" he whispered, at least he wouldn't have to carry all that weight for too long.

He carefully approached the house with his pistol raised at his right hand, pointing at directions that hostiles could come out.

Nobody appeared

When reaching the front door he thought:

"Probably it's gonna be loc-"

But as he turned the knob of the door opened.

He checked all rooms, the house was clean.

A room called his attention, by its decoration it probably belonged to a girl.

"Guess its a nice spot to place her"

He put her on the bed, then reached his first aid pouch, got a syringe of morphine and injected at her.

He waited a bit and proceeded to remove the twig of her hand.

After disinfecting the wound, he put stitches and wrapped her hand with some bandages.

While she was sleeping Harold dragged the hunter away from the bodies of his partners, deeper into the woods.

There he grabbed some snow and stuffed into the hunter's throat, and pushed a little deeper.

"Done" he whispered

He did that because if more Hunters showed up, they would see 3 guys shot down and one far away. They would think that he betray them, ran and died frozen. The snow inside the bastard's throat would suffocate him, and melt leaving no evidence that he was murdered.

According to the colonel this way to kill was invented by the Russian mafia

He ran back to the girl's room.

"OK now, just need to call the old man" he thought

Harold grabbed his radio and called in

"Colonel, I found the girl"

"Excellent. Are you still in sector 14?"

"Affirmative, I'm inside of an old farmhouse at northeast of this sector. Be advised, I spot Hunters and infected nearby."

"Is the girl awake?"

"Negative, she got strangled and impaled her hand. But she'll live."

"Hold tight, I'll be there in 2 hours. Over and out."

2 hours... The old man would probably take more than that, because:

1 - a lot of hostiles in this sector

2 - well... He was old.

Sargent gave a sigh.

"Probably 4 hours" he muttered, it would be boring as fuck.

"Stop complaining, you are still breathing" he remembered his Colonel said that.

He checked the girl's backpack and saw a name written on it

"Ellie"

Inside he found a Molotov, first aids, ammo and a weird can with sharp things sticking out.

"Is this... A nail bomb?" he thought. Damn she wasn't so dumb as he thought.

He walked to the house's fireplace, started a fire to warm up the 2 bean cans.

He sat in the couch observing the fire while the cans warm up.

"Joel?"

It was Ellie's voice.

"Fuck, I can't get a break. Can I?" he muttered as he walked upstairs.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: another quick upload

I got 285 views, 1 review and 2 followers in less than 24 hours :)

Oh and thanks LittleSlytherin394 for posting a review, you guys should check his stories.

* * *

Ellie slowly opened her eyes, she was... At the old farmhouse? How the fuck she got there? Didn't she get caught by the hunters?

Remembering that made her panic

"Oh god, did he... Touched me while I was out?" She thought, starting to cry.

But something was wrong; he said that was going to kill her.

What if he changed his mind and decided to abuse her until he didn't wanted her anymore?

That seemed possible until she saw her backpack, and besides she wasn't tied up and her left hand was patched.

She didn't felt any pain but didn't risk make a move her hand

Somebody saved her... Could it be... Him?

"Joel?" She called

She thought nobody would come until, she heard footsteps going upstairs.

However it wasn't her bearded Texan who showed up.

When the door opened she saw that the man was dressed like a soldier. A helmet, protection glasses, a mask covering the lower half of his face, a bulletproof vest, he was holding a rifle in his hands, a pistol at a holster to the right, a shotgun at his back... All in white camouflage

Holy Nelly... This guy meant business. She started to feel afraid of the guy as he was staring at her for quite some time now.

Sargent POV

He saw the girl sitting on the bed looking at him.

"She thought her crazy father saved her" he though as he started to think

"What the hell should I say? I was never good with kids."

"How about say... Hi I'm Kaze and I just literally saved your ass"

"Horrible idea, the last thing she need is to remember that she almost got raped"

"And if she does, she will cry, and I don't like to see that"

"Maybe... Praise her? Colonel sad once, that praising a woman can make her feel more comfortable"

"How about... Hi you are cute"

"No she'll probably think I'm a pervert"

Ellie's POV

"Is he really going to keep giving me that creeper stare?" She though

"Maybe he's guarding the door to make sure I'll stay here"

"He doesn't look like one of the hunters; he's not one of Tommy's men. So he is with the military or Fireflies?"

Sargent POV

"OR maybe I don't need to talk anything, just keep staring at her and wait for the old man."

He looked at his watch

_"14h 20m"_

And he talked to the colonel 5 minutes ago...

"3 hours and 55 minutes of waiting... "

"Ah shit forgot about the beans."

After all the silence Sargent finally talked

"You stay here" as he walked to check the food

"Well I'm not going anywhere." he heard she saying

Luckily the beans didn't end up burned, and were in the right temperature.

He grabbed 2 spoons at his backpack put one at each can, with gloves he carried them to Ellie's bedroom.

He put one beside her bed, then seated on a chair and removed his mask off.

As he eated his meal, Sargent noted Ellie stared at him.

"I didn't poisoned your food you know, go ahead and eat it"

"I can't hold the can and hold the spoon at same time, or did forgot that my hand is fucked up?"

Dammit, he forgot about that

He grabbed her can, sat on the side of the bed and hold the can in front of her.

"Better now?" he asked as he gave a sigh.

She silently started to eat, after it was finished he went back to his chair, and continued to eat.

"Who are you?" She suddenly asked

"Sargent Kaze"

"Kaze?"

"It's a code name"

"I'm -"

"I know, Ellie"

"How do you know?"

"Cause I can read minds" he said in a serious tone

Ellie POV

"What? It's impossible he is just lying" she thought

"No I'm not lying" he said

"Oh my if he can do that... No it can't be true. Can it?"

Sargent POV

He could tell that Ellie looked worried, just by seeing her face. She was confused and surprised.

"She fell for it" he thought

Then he started laughing discreetly.

"What's so funny?"

"Your name is written on your backpack" he said as he smiled in triumph.

"Of course... I just forgot about it, and stop laughing I'm not stupid you know"

"Yeah sure Ellie"

Well at least this conversation was helping kill the time and distract her.

"Are you with the fireflies?"

"Shit" he thought

Damn, he could lie but the girl wasn't stupid. He would have to play nice so eventually she would trust him.

Besides why lie to her? She was going to die anyway.

"Yes"

"Then why there's no firefly insignia in your uniform?"

"Because I am part of their special forces, and besides your father would shot me just by seeing that I'm with the fireflies"

"Joel is not my father"

"Oh so that's his name" he thought

"Well if he's not your father then why he would kill 1/3 of the guards, kill Marlene and get you out of St. Mary's Hospital?"

"Maybe because he cared about me... That selfish fucker" She muttered

Ellie POV

"Shit, Joel. I could have saved humanity, but you had to kill Marlene and dragged me out of there" she thought

"You will take me back there?"

"Is that what you want?" the soldier asked nicely

"Yes"

"But you know that-"

"Yes, I have to die."

Sargent POV

"How old are you Ellie?"

"17"

"17? She looked younger. At that age many people were afraid of death, but she just... Accepted." He thought.

"And you Sargent? You look kind of young."

"18"

"You are joking again, right?"

"Nope, I was trained since I was 11."

"By the Fireflies?"

"No they only recruit people with 18 or more."

"Then how did u became part of their special forces?"

"Well they saw my potential, besides the same man who trained me is the second in command of the fireflies"

"He trained me before he joined the Fireflies though." he added

"Well so why are we standing here? Let's go to the hospital then." she suggested

"Too risky, right now we wait until my squad arrives, or did you forgot about the Hunters and infected around?"

"It's because Joel knows about this place"

"Ah fuck, you got to be shitting me" he talked as he got up and raised his rifle pointing at the door.

He couldn't hear steps or anything that indicated an intruder.

"Sorry I forgot about it I'm just tired"

"Well me too" he responded

Suddenly he heard the radio

"Sargent respond"

"I'm here, colonel"

"I have bad news"

"I'm not surprised"

"We got attacked by a pack of infected, we got slip up and there's a snowstorm coming"

"Who's with you?"

"I'm alone"

"What about the crazy man? The girl told me he knows about the farmhouse"

"I wouldn't worry about him"

"Copy"

"It may take a day or two to arrive at your location"

"Alright, stay safe Old man"

"You too KAZE"

He turned off the radio and noted that Ellie was worried.

"Did He killed Joel?" she asked

"Maybe he did, or Joel stopped moving because of the incoming storm"

"But..."

"Don't worry when the colonel says to don't worry about somebody, there's a chance that he didn't killed that person"

"Oh and I think this belongs to you" he said as he passed a loaded pistol and a switchblade to Ellie.

"Thanks" she said, "hmm can we go to the fireplace? It's getting colder Kaze"

"Sure, follow me"

After going downstairs they sat on the same sofa near the fire.

Ellie POV

Ellie hated Joel because he lied, but thinking that he may be dead made her feel sad.

Some minutes later Ellie decided to break the silence.

"Thanks for saving me, and thanks for being sincere with me. I mean I know it's your job but-"

Before she could finish she heard a snore.

Kaze was sleeping like a rock.

"Ah great, he didn't heard me" she complained

While he was out, Ellie put some blankets she found on Kaze and on herself.

After an hour the storm arrived, and the cold got worse.

Even with the fire and the blankets Ellie was still feeling cold, she was so tired but couldn't sleep because she started to feel lonely again.

She got closer to Kaze and hugged him placing her arms around him and her head at his chest. By doing that the cold and the feeling of loneliness disappeared.

"Thank you" she whispered, before falling asleep.

* * *

A/N: Finally I managed to write something happy.

I'm still working on chapter 6 which i cannot guarantee that will be uploaded quickly, but i can guarantee that it will be Joel's POV.

Trivia:

-In my original idea Ellie would go straight to the hospital by herself and end up meeting with Kaze's squad

-In the first time i wrote chapter 3 Ellie would twist her ankle

-chapters 1,2,3 were kinda sad cause i was under stress and didnt have very good days

-I managed to write something happy because... well... i watched kitty videos on youtube XD


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hey guys i hope you enjoy this chapter

And as i said before any review would be welcome as well as suggestion in how improve my writting skills

* * *

Joel ran as fast as he could.

"She must have gone to the stable" he thought

When he got there Tommy was talking to Robert and some guards.

"That girl Ellie, she stole one of the horses again Tom." Said Robert

"How the hell she got one? And escape" Tommy replied angry.

"I fell asleep... But please don't tell your brother that it was my fault, or he is-"

"Going to kill you?" Joel said as he entered the stable

Joel could see fear and despair in Robert's eyes, it was like Robert have seen the Devil himself.

After looking at Joel's eyes Robert quickly panicked and ran to the backdoor.

Joel could have shot him but he let him go, Robert would have to wait.

"Arthur why the gate was open?" Tommy asked for one of the guards.

"It refused to budge, I think it was because of the cold, ice and rust, the gate is kinda old. Listen Tom, I'm sorry but we couldn't stop her because-"

"What is done is done. I'm pretty sure you and your man did what they could, now go back and try to fix the gate"

"Yes, sir" Arthur said as he ran to the gate.

"What the fuck did you just do Joel? Ellie wouldn't run without a reason"

"I will explain only after she's safe, now give me a goddamn horse"

"I'm afraid that's not possible. And before you start complaining, you can't grab a grab the horse cause one of my scouts used it to go after Ellie"

"Fine I'll go by foot then"

"Just wait for the scout to come back, I don't want you to go without knowing if there are Hunters or clickers ahead"

"I can't just sit here while my bab-"

Gunshots could be heard

"DON'T LET THEM CROSS THE GATE!"

It was Arthur shouting

One of the guards entered the stable running

"Tommy Jack came back but dozens of infected, showed up"

"Comon Joel we have to help"

Tommy said as he draw his pistol.

Once at the gate Joel could see 9 runners and 4 clickers rushing at them, plus the bodies of other 9 infected on the ground.

The guards were doing what they could, but fear and despair made them miss some of the shots.

Joel raised his revolver, fired 6 times, 6 runners heads blew of.

Tommy managed to kill 3 clickers, while the rest of the infected got slaughtered by the guards.

"Clear" one of the guards shouted

A man was on his knees next to a horse, he was looking at his left arm which was covered in blood.

"Jack are you okay?" Tommy asked as he got closer.

"Stay away from me!" Jack shouted as he pointed a pistol to his own head.

"Okay just stay calm, you don't need to do this man"

"I don't want to become one of them!"

"Then at least them me what you saw" Joel said in a cold tone

The man paused for a moment to take a breath.

"Okay. Er... I followed her trail she probably went to the university"

"Probably?"

"Her horse was near the farmhouse, there was a trail of steps going at the university"

"You didn't check the house?"

"I was going to, that's when the infected show up and I got bit"

"Jack the footsteps you saw heading to the university, Are you sure they were Ellie's?" Tommy asked as he crouched near the scout.

"By their size yes"

"Alright, at least I know where to go" Joel said

"Are you crazy Joel? Didn't you saw all those infected? If you go, I'll come with you" Tommy said

"No, I don't you risking your own life just because of a mistake of mine. And besides your wife will kill me if you die."

"Tommy, I'll go with Joel. If there's any infected I'll distract them and buy your big brother some time" Jack said as he stand up.

"Are you sure?" tommy asked

"I'm going to die anyways"

After Jack stopped the bleeding of his arm he and Joel moved to the gate.

"Joel before we go, I need you to promise something for me"

"What?"

"Promise me that my sacrifice will not be in vain; promise that you will take care of the people in the town"

"I promise…. In Ellie's name"

Jack closed his eyes for a second then opened them.

Joel could see courage and determination in his eyes. Jack was ready to die.

"Comon follow me, your baby girl is waiting"

They sprinted as fast as they could.

After some minutes Jack finally reached Ellie's trail.

"See the trail?" Jack asked

"Yeah, she's definitely going to the university"

Moans could be heard ahead

"Runners, let's try to sneak past them" Jack whispered

They moved using bushes and trees as cover.

Crack

All the infected in the area screamed, then slowly going at their direction.

Jack was the one who stepped on a twig

"Shit" he thought

"Joel stay down I got this"

As Joel nodded Jack stand up showing himself while raising his pistol at the runner right next to him.

Bang

Parts of the runner brain painted a nearby tree.

And Jack ran.

As Joel stayed there crouched he could hear Jack shooting and shouting

"COME AND GET ME YOU UGLY BASTARDS!"

After all the infected were distant he advanced quietly.

Jack POV

He aimed and shot a clicker at the head, then he resumed running.

Jack knew the woods and he knew a perfect place to attract them.

He arrived at a plain; there was no trees just a field of grass covered by snow. He could see infected coming from all directions.

Jack shot 3 more runners, the slide of his pistol moved backwards and stopped there.

The gun was dry.

He ejected the magazine, put a fresh one and resumed shooting

Click

Again the slide moved back and stopped. That was his last magazine.

There was still some good amount of distance the infected needed to cross, as they approached he took a grenade out of his pouch.

He was keeping this little baby to use in a special occasion.

_Flashback_

_His father was lying on the bed._

_"Jack…. Came to see your old man one last time?"_

_"Don't talk like that dad"_

_"You heard what the doctor said"_

_"There's still a chance"_

_"You know better than anyone that I'm not gonna make it. You always were a realistic person"_

_"Dad… you are the only family I have"_

_"Afraid of being alone?"_

_"Yeah"_

_"Even if I die, you will never be alone Jack."_

_"How can you be so sure?"_

_"Because me and your mother will always be with you"_

_End of Flashback_

They were close.

Clickers and runners jumped at him as he pulled the pin and closed his eyes.

Joel POV

The rest of the path was clean

"That crazy SOB attracted them all" he thought

He continued running.

BAM

A loud explosion could be heard at the distance.

"Promise me that my sacrifice will not be in vain; promise that you will take care of the people in the town" He remembered his voice.

After some time walking he saw a camp fire.

On the ground there was a stripped sweater

"Ellie?"

Joel walked to grab the sweater but

Suddenly he felt a rope grab his ankle, and in a blink of an eye he was upside down.

His revolver fell on the ground

"Shit" he thought

As he tried to reach for his rifle, somebody came from behind and took his weapons away from him.

"I've been waiting for you Joel"

It was a male voice.

The man appeared in front of him, he was using a white ghillie suit.

He was probably in his fifties

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't introduced myself"

"I'm Colonel Murphy"

Shit, he was with the Fireflies

"Where's Ellie!?" Joel shouted

"I know she ran to the woods but only my marksman will be able to tell that" Colonel said in a polite tone

He heard a radio beep

"Colonel, I found the girl"

"Excellent. Are you still in sector 14?"

"Affirmative, I'm inside of an old farmhouse at northeast of this sector. Be advised, I spot Hunters and infected nearby."

"Is the girl awake?"

"Negative, she got strangled and impaled her hand. But she'll live."

"Hold tight, I'll be there in 2 hours. Over and out."

As Joel heard him talk on the radio he stayed quiet.

"What a coincidence Sargent just found her"

"If you or your fucking Sargent lay a finger on her-"

"You don't have to worry, Sargent has a very restrict moral code. He wouldn't do anything to harm her, in the contrary he would die for her"

"But I wouldn't worry about her, you should worry about yourself"

"So if you want to see Ellie again I suggest you do what I say"

"What do you want?"

"The same thing you want Joel"


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: another chapter for you guys :)

This is the longer chapter i ever wrote

note that i'll post more chapters, i will be able to do so only on saturday and sunday cause i have to go to work and i have college at night.

* * *

The squad was hidden observing the town.

It has been three days that they were there waiting for an opportunity.

Kaze was watching it through the scope of his rifle.

There were 7 people who were chosen for the mission.

"Objectives: Find the immune specimen and bring her back to St. Mary's Hospital.

Neutralize the man who kidnaped her.

The use of any means necessary to complete the mission has been authorized.

Intel: The specimen is around 16 years old, female, red-brown hair color, has a scar above her right eyebrow and green eyes.

The man is around his fifties, has a dark hair and a beard and uses a broken watch at his left wrist.

Squad members:

Colonel "Wolf" Murphy

Function: Squad leader

Sargent "Kaze" Harold

Function: Marksman

Corporal "Lead" Gary

Function: Machine gunner

Private "Mother" Susan

Function: Medic

New squad members:

Private Thomas

Function: Rifleman

Private Charlie

Function: Rifleman

Private Andrew

Function: Rifleman

OBS: squad members are expendable"

Colonel was rereading the paper to reflect.

Private Andrew suggested to invade the town and kidnap the girl at night, but the he didn't want to do that, the last thing he needed is to make the girl think that they were bad guys.

With the file there was photos of the girl and the man, that were taken by security cameras of the hospital.

Colonel respected the man who kidnapped the girl, he was impressed with him. He killed a lot of men just to save his daughter, but the old man didn't care. Most of Fireflies soldiers were dumb.

The only thing that hurt him was the death of Marlene, his old friend.

"Colonel I saw the girl leaving the town, she's on a horse" He heard Kaze saying

"What direction she's heading?" he asked while hiding the paper inside his backpack

"Heading probably for sector 13, but its better check the others too"

"Alright, Kaze you check sector 14, I'll check sector 13 with Mother and Lead, Thomas, Charlie and Andrew go for sector 12. If you don't find her go back to the checkpoint and wait there for the others"

Sometime later….

Only Mother and Lead were on the checkpoint, Colonel was MIA since Hunters showed up and Kaze was probably still in sector 14.

Thomas group sent a message saying that they found a large pack of infected but the rest of the message was just static.

"Do you think the rest is OK?" Mother asked. She was in her thirties, short black hair

"Kaze and the Colonel? Yes, The rookies? I don't think so" Lead responded. He was black, bald and was the tallest and strongest man of the squad.

Lead scanned their perimeter with his Negev LMG, while Mother rested. She had a though day, and deserved some rest.

"Lead let me stay on guard, you must be tired…"

"Don't worry about me sister"

"But-"

"You always took care of everyone in the squad, let me return the favor"

"Okay"

They barely escaped the hunter ambush, running kilometers without stop made her feel exhausted. Mother closed her eyes.

Then she heard gunfire.

She quickly got up and ran to here Lead was.

"What the hell?" she asked

"Looks like hunters are fighting infected nearby, this place is not safe anymore"

They grabbed all their gear and started to move.

As they walked Lead turn on his radio

"Colonel this is Lead"

Static

"Colonel respond"

More static

"Kaze are you there?"

"Thomas?"

"Is anybody still breathing?"

All attempts to contact his squad mates were fruitless, they were out of range or a snowstorm could be interfering with the radio.

Sargent POV

He was walking in one of the corridors of the hospital, heading to his room so he could get some rest.

Suddenly the Colonel appeared

"She wants to see you"

"Who?" Kaze asked

"The girl. Room 210"

Kaze gave a sigh as he started to move towards the room.

He wasn't good at saying goodbye.

Once he reached room 210 he slowly opened the door, he saw that Ellie was lying on the bed using a hospital gown.

Her head was open and her brain was inside a pot.

Kaze quickly opened his eyes and looked around him; he was still at the farmhouse.

His heart was racing and his hands were shaking. That never happened before, he saw so many people dying in many gruesome ways, but he never felt anything for those people.

"Shit" He thought. That nightmare meant one thing: He was getting emotionally attached to her. But trying to break this attachment was hard.

As he tried to stand up he felt some resistance, it was like somebody…..

Ellie was at his left hugging him while her head was at his chest.

"What an awkward situation" he thought, as he gently grabbed her left hand to check her wound.

The stitches were still holding, no signs of infection, and just some blood on the bandage. He removed the old bandage and put a new one.

After taking care of her he gently got her off him and laid her on the sofa.

Kaze turn on his radio and talked:

"Colonel?"

Silence

"Colonel respond"

Nothing

"Lead, Mother, Thomas? Is anybody out there?"

No response

"Ouch, fuck!" It was Ellie waking up.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty" Kaze said joking.

"Morning, white snow" She replied while rubbing her eyes with her right hand.

"White snow…." he thought. Mother used to call him like that, until he brutally murdered 5 hunters who were trying to kill her.

"Why I'm feeling pain now?"

"The effect of morphine ran out" he talked as he passed some pain pills to Ellie.

After that they ate breakfast, Kaze stayed on guard.

He heard Ellie opening her backpack and grabbing something.

"Can you teach me how to use this thing?" She asked

Kaze looked: She was holding a M16, probably the A4 version, the same he was using.

"To use it just put on your shoulder, aim and fire" He said sarcastically.

"Ha ha, don't be a dick. It's because there are some buttons and other things I never seen"

"Where the hell did you get that?"

"It was inside Joel's backpack"

"Okay, pass the rifle to me"

Kaze hold it showing the right side of the rifle.

"This button ejects the mag" he pressed and the mag fell on his hand.

"This is the charging handle" he pulled the handle back and the ejection port lock open ejecting the cartridge that was inside. Kaze grabbed it and put inside the mag.

"The ejection port locks open when it fires the last round"

He passed the rifle to Ellie and the magazine

"Now put the mag back and push this button" he pointed

Ellie quickly reloaded and pushed the button. Clank. The bolt closed.

"See that lever?"

"Yeah"

"It has 3 positions: safety, full-auto and semi-auto. I recommend firing only at semi-auto"

"Understood everything?"

"Yep"

These were the basics, it took weeks to fully train somebody to use the M16.

"Thanks" she said

"Where your squad? I mean they should be here by now" Ellie suddenly asked

"I tried to contact them using the radio. They didn't respond"

"What now?"

"We keep waiting, only 1day passed."

"I'm going to end up dying of boredom"

"Well if you die I will kill you"

Ellie laughed

"How is that even possible?"

"Believe it is" Kaze said in a serious tone.

"How?"

"It's a long sto-"

He paused talking; he could hear people running towards the house front door.

Ellie immediately understood as she crouched behind the sofa while kaze pointed his rifle at the door.

The knob slowly turned and 3 a men entered pointing their M16 to random directions.

Sargent recognized them.

"Flash" Kaze said

The three man looked at him and lowered their weapons

"Thunder" one of the man whispered.

Kaze stand up.

"Ellie it's okay. Come out"

She slowly appeared out of hiding with her rifle lowered.

"Holy shit, you found her" Thomas said

"What? You didn't know I was here?"

"No"

"But I talked to the Colonel yesterday at 1415 hours"

"Before that time Lead and Mother said that the Colonel was MIA" Charlie said

"Wait, if you guys didn't knew than… Mother and Lead doesn't know that I found her"

"They are probably dead, let's grab the girl and get the fuck out of here!" Andrew said as he violently grabbed Ellie's left hand.

"Ouch, you are hurting me you fucker!" Ellie shouted as she struggled to break off his grip.

Sargent felt anger and wrath blinding his reason.

He quickly unsheathed his knife and stabbed Andrew at his neck, he released Ellie's hand and felt to the ground.

Kaze stabbed him again and again and again. Before the fifth stab somebody grabbed his hand.

"STOP! Please" It was Ellie's voice.

He stand up and sheathed his knife, there was fear and sadness in her eyes.

Charlie and Thomas stood there shocked with the gruesome scene that they have witnessed.

"You two, grab the body scavenge anything useful and bury him" Kaze ordered coldly.

The two soldiers quickly grabbed the body and went outside.

Ellie and Kaze sat one in a different sofa than the other.

After some time of silence Ellie asked:

"Why did you kill him?"

"Because he was going nuts, besides he wanted to leave my partners behind. And… He was hurting you"

"You scared me" she said

"Everyone have a good and a evil side, you saw my good side before. Now you saw the monster I am"

"You are not a monster…"

"Ellie I….. killed a lot of people, even the ones who surrendered or begged for their lives."

"Oh so I'm a monster too! Cause I had to kill too." She shouted

Ellie saw how these words hurt Kaze, so she tried to comfort him:

"Listen if you were really a monster then you would have leaved everyone behind, and you would have….. raped me" Kaze could see the pain in her eyes, the way she talked it almost sounded like she was almost raped in the past.

Ellie was right, what made people monsters weren't because they killed but because they enjoyed killing and raping without remorse. Monsters don't have empathy.

"Thanks Ellie"

Seeing that made him feel better Ellie smiled.

"Okay we need to lighten the mood"

"What are you planning?"

"I used to be addicted to soap. But I'm clean now"

Kaze laughed I little

"Where did you learn this shit?"

"From a joke book, wanna hear the rest?"

"NOPE"

"Okay"

While Charlie and Thomas were out there Kaze tried to contact the rest of his squad, but the only thing he could was static.

Some minutes later Kaze heard two gunshots

He and Ellie immediately raised their rifles.

He turned on his radio

"Thomas respond"

Static

"Charlie?"

More Static

"Shiiiittt" he muttered as he approached to check the window.

He could see that Thomas and Charlie were lying lifeless on the ground.

"They are dead" He said as he ran back to cover.

"What do we do?"

"We wait, we can't go out there. It's probably a sni-"

The front door opened violently

There stood a man around his fifties, he was using a white ghillie suit.

"Colonel?"

"Oh Kaze, sorry if I let you and the girl waiting" the Colonel said calmly as he lowered his rifle.

Sargent could feel that something was wrong.

Then he saw Joel, the crazy man entering the house.

"Colonel behind you!" he shouted as he pointed his rifle at Joel. At the same time Joel pointed his revolver at him.

"He's with me" Colonel said

"What the fuck!? Colonel why are you with this psycho?"

"He wants the same thing as me: the safety of Ellie"

Besides Colonel apparently going nuts, Joel was there and worse Charlie and Thomas were killed by the Colonel.

"What about the mission?!"

"It cannot be completed Sargent"

"Creating a cure will save everyone!" Kaze shouted, he couldn' believe that the old man betrayed him.

"No, it will only create more death and conflict"

"How do you know? You became a prophet or some shit like that?"

"The new leader of the Fireflies, Smith, he is going to use vaccine to attract people, recruit them and make an army. Besides if he gets his dirty hands on a vaccine he WILL make bioterrorist attacks by exploding bomb containing spores in many Quarantine Zones"

"Bullshit"

"Then listen to the conversation I had with him"

The colonel grabbed a recorder and pushed the play button

_"So Smith I bet that you did not invited me to your room just to drink whiskey and remember the old times"_

_"You were always like that Colonel: straight to the point"_

_Smith gave a sigh_

_"Okay I got a extremely important mission for you"_

_"Which is?"_

_"Recover the girl that were kidnapped 2 years ago"_

_"Oh I see, you still hoping to create a vaccine?"_

_"Yes, I managed to recruit some brain surgeons and scientists and I got some better lab equipment"_

_"You know that a vaccine will not resolve all our problems"_

_"Of course it will"_

_"What makes you think it will?"_

_"The military has been kick our ass, but after the vaccine is ready we will strike"_

_"How exactly? We don't have enough weapons and man for that"_

_"I will use cordyceps against them"_

_Colonel laughed_

_"When did you got the magical powers to control the fungus?" He asked sarcastically_

_"I will use bombs filled with spores and sharp objects contaminated with infected blood"_

_"You are joking right?"_

_"No, I got some Fireflies infiltrated in most of QZs at the West cost. Once they receive the vaccine they will detonate them and chaos will spread"_

_"Let me guess, then you will announce that the Fireflies have a cure but will only give for those who fight for us?"_

_"Almost, I will only announce that I got the cure some time later. If I announce at the same time the attacks occur people will know we were involved"_

_"But you know that the military will put the blame on us"_

_"No they won't. I have created a false group called The Sons of God. Once the bombs explode a prerecorded message will say that the Sons of God were the responsible, and will say that they believe that the fungus is sacred holy thing"_

_"How much time you have been preparing this?"_

_"Three years, the only piece of the puzzle missing is the vaccine"_

_"I see… You can count me in"_

_"Good. Chose your best man for this, and I will give three of my must trustable man under your command: Charlie, Andrew and Thomas."_

_"But I don't know where the girl is Smith"_

_"My scouts suggested that they went to Jackson Country"_

_"It's a long walk. Well guess the sooner we start the sooner we end it"_

Then the recorder stopped.

Kaze couldn't believe in what he heard, the Fireflies were his last hope. But now he knew that the military, the hunters and the Fireflies were the same shit.

He lowered his weapon and asked:

"Ellie after all you heard, you still want to go back?"

Ellie POV

Ellie was shocked, in the end the Fireflies were the bad guys too. What cruel and fucked up world; a vaccine would be a blessing but would also be a curse at the same time.

She wanted to sacrifice herself to create a vaccine but now she couldn't.

Then she made her mind

"Yes"

"Why? Didn't you hear what he said Ellie?" Joel asked

"I want to kill him" She said coldly

"Smith? I wouldn't worry about him" Colonel said

"What did you do old man?" Kaze asked

"I made some a delay-action bombs using a old method and placed them strategically"

"How much time?"

"Well with put the right springs they should have detonated 2 weeks after we went of our mission"

"You and your magic tricks" Kaze said

"But what about Mother and Lead?" Kaze asked

"They already know about this, they are waiting for us near Tommy's town"

"Wait did you and Joel talked to Tommy?" Ellie asked

"Yeah and he agreed to let me and my squad to live there"

"Who's Tommy?" Kaze asked confused

"The town leader, and he's Joel's brother" Ellie replied

"It's a normal town? Normal people?" Kaze asked

"Yep"

"I don't know Ellie"

"Comon Kaze, I really want you to live there."

He could see in Ellie's eyes that she deeply wanted him nearby.

"I'll go if you promise me one thing"

"What?

"No more jokes from that fucking book"

Ellie smiled

"I promise"

Before head to Tommy's town they buried Charlie, Andrew and Thomas.

"Lord please forgive these men for their sins and guide their souls with your light"

"Amen" As Kaze finished his pray he and the rest started to walk towards the town.

* * *

A/N: if sobody saw any gramatical error please tell me, because i want to improve my english


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Luckly i got time and managed to write this chapter

**Copright mumbo jumbo: I do not own the lyrics that appear in this fanfic**

* * *

As the group walked, Joel's anxiety was killing him. He wanted so bad to say sorry to Ellie. She was everything for him, he didn't cared if he was wounded or tired as long as she was by his side.

While the group moved, he slowly approached Ellie

"Ellie I... Need to talk to you"

"Not now Joel" She said coldly

Ellie was still mad at him.

"Joel I know you want to talk to her, but there may still be Hunters and infected nearby" Said Kaze

It was the boy who was beside her, Joel could tell that Ellie enjoyed his company.

What was his name?

Joel tried to remember

Kaze.

"What kind of name is that?" Joel asked himself mentally.

They were walking through the Woods just for some minutes, but it seemed like a eternity for Joel.

Lead was walking ahead of the group when he suddenly stopped and crouched.

"Everybody get down" he whispered.

Voices could be heard from the distance.

"I'll go check" said the colonel, as he went prone and slowly moved in the direction of the voices.

Colonel POV

As he got closer and closer the sound of the voices became clearer.

"How much time we will have to stand here? Why we can't just attack the damn town now?"

"Because it's easier to attack at night. Now stop complaining and keep watching."

Colonel was inside a bush observing the Hunters.

He could count 17 of them.

It would be necessary to take them down ASAP. Colonel looked around for a advantage.

Most of the Hunters were concentrated at the direction of the gate of the town, meaning that an attack from the south would hit their backs. There was also a high terrain to the right of the hunters location.

Around them Colonel could see bushes and fallen trees, perfect for sneaking.

He slowly went back to his group.

Kaze POV

He saw the old man coming back, once they were near of each other Kaze asked:

"What did you saw?"

"Hunters, 17 of them, they are planning to attack the town tonight."

"Shouldn't we go warn Tommy?" Ellie asked

"No, we still a little far. Our best bet is to attack them before they strike" Colonel replied

"Active defense, what do you have in mind Colonel?" Asked Kaze

"Most of their attention is concentrated to the north, so Lead and Mother, you to attack from the south"

"There's a high ground to their right flank, Kaze and Ellie, you two will snipe them from up there"

"Joel and I will try to sneak and hit their left flank"

He paused

"If everything works as planned they will fall before they have time to react"

"Questions?"

"No" Joel said

Then the Colonel moved.

Kaze POV

"Ellie before we go, use this" he said as he gave Ellie a cape with winter camouflage.

It didn't take long to wear it.

"I alright follow me" Kaze said as he went prone and started to move.

Some minutes later they were at the high ground.

Kaze looked through his scope.

Lead had placed his machine gun on the same rock he was using as cover, while Mother watched his back.

He moved his scope to the right. Joel and the Colonel were hiding behind a bush, since there was 2 Hunters looking at their direction.

"Kaze kill the 2 guys in front of us, we will hide the bodies"

"Copy"

He pulled the trigger 2 times and both Hunters went down.

After hiding the proof of the crime they reached the left flank.

Joel chokehold a lone guard

"14 to go" Kaze thought.

Kaze killed another 2 guards who dared to patrol alone.

"12"

"THEY ARE FUCKING DEAD!" One of the Hunters shouted

Kaze quickly scanned the area and saw 3 Hunters who saw the bodies at the bushes.

"Plan B, everyone get ready to fire on my mark" said the Colonel

"Go search the area these fuckers are not-"

"Fire"

Lead fired a barrage of bullets at the 3 Hunters.

"9"

Mother fired a burst of bullets from her mp5 at the hunter who looked at her location.

"8"

Joel and Colonel got out of hiding firing their guns, taking out 3 Hunters.

"5"

Ellie fired 6 times

4 Hunters screamed in pain as they were hit.

"1"

The last hunter looked at the direction of where Sargent was.

Kaze looked at his eyes through his scope

"When you are going to kill a man look in his eyes" he remembered.

Then he fired.

The man felt to the ground.

"Kaze see anything else?" Colonel asked

"All clear"

"Let's get out of here before any more hostiles show up"

When they reached the gate, Tommy's guards pop out of cover and pointed their weapons at the group.

"Stop! Drop your wea-... Joel? Ellie? Oh so these are the Fireflies Tom talked about" It was Arthur.

"Ex-Fireflies" Colonel corrected.

"Whatever. I'll open the gate for you guys."

Joel's POV

As they entered, he got near Ellie and talked.

"Ellie I need to talk to you"

But she didn't stop walking and ignored him.

Joel didn't run after her, he knew that she wanted to stay away from him. He just hoped that this wouldn't last forever. He couldn't live without her.

Then Joel walked sadly to his house.

Kaze POV

"Hey Colonel, Tom wants to see you and your squad" Arthur said

"Can I come in too?" Ellie asked

"Sure" said the Colonel

As Kaze walked he saw Joel walking away from the group.

"He must be feeling like shit" he thought

Kaze knew how Joel loved Ellie as a daughter

"I wish I could help him"

Then a idea passed through his mind.

"You guys go ahead; I'll check the perimeter of the town." Kaze said.

"You have to do this now?" Ellie asked

"Safety first" he said as he ran from the group.

Ellie's POV

It was night she was at Tommy's house sitting on the sofa thinking.

Should she forgive him? After everything he had done. What have he done?

He killed Marlene.

Saved her life.

Murdered the Fireflies at the hospital.

Treated her like she was his daughter.

Ellie was confused, she hated him but also loved him

"Forgive or hate?"

"What should I do?" She thought

Suddenly somebody gently covered her eyes with his/her hands.

"Ellie I got a surprise for you" It was Kaze's voice

They started walking; she could tell that they were walking outside.

"Is it far?" She asked

"We are almost there"

They entered in another house, then he made her stop and took his hands out of her eyes.

"Don't open them yet okay?"

She heard him walk away and then she heard a music.

_And I remember everything,_

_Everything I loved, _

_I gave it away like it wasn't enough_

_All the words I said and all you forgive _

_How could I hurt you again?_

_What if I let you in? _

_What if I make it right it? _

_What if I give it up? _

_What if I want to try? _

_What if you take a chance? _

_What if I learn to love? _

_What if, what if we start again?_

_All this time I can make it right _

_With one more try _

_Can we start again? _

_In my eyes, _

_You can see it now, _

_Can we start again, can we start again?!_

_Emptiness inside me, wonder if you see_

_It's my mistake and it's hurting me _

_I known where we've been _

_How did we get so far? _

_What if, what if we start again?_

_I'm lost inside the pain _

_I feel without you, _

_I can't stop holding on, _

_I need you with me! _

_I'm trapped inside the pain_

_ Can we ever start again? _

_I'm lost without you!_

...

Then the music faded away

"Can we start again Ellie?"

She opened her eyes

It was Joel in front of her.

Her eyes filled with tears as she ran at his direction and hugged him.

Joel cried as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I love you Ellie"

"I love you too Dad"

* * *

A/N: This is the end of the main story but i got a couple of ideas for some short stories after the main story.

Trivia:

-Kaze never used his shotgun, it was planned to him to used it but the scene got scrapped cause it didn't seemed to fit

-The sign and countersign that were used at chapter 7 were used by american soldiers at the D-Day

-Murphy was the last name of a war hero of WW2

-the quote "when you are going to kill a man look him in the eyes" is a quote that the soldier, from the game team fortress 2, says

-The music in this chapter is Start Again from the band called Red


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: another chpater for you guys :)

* * *

Ellie woke up and saw that her head was on somebody's chest.

She got up, and saw that Joel was still sleeping. Then Ellie remembered last night: the music, when they hugged and promised that there would be no more lies between them.

She slept pretty well, a night without dreams or nightmares.

Through the window she could see the snow reflecting the weak sunbeams.

"I need to say thanks to him" she though.

Ellie grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a note Joel. Then she went outside.

It was still early in the morning, but there were guards patrolling the town. After Tommy was told about the Hunters, he increased the number of active guards.

"Hi Ellie, what are you doing here so early? There's no school today" Arthur asked as he approached her.

"I'm looking for Kaze"

"Who?"

"The ex-firefly all in white"

"Oh, that creepy guy? He's on the top floor of that three store building"

As she approached the house, she knew that he would be observing her by one of the windows.

After some minutes she was on the top floor and saw him.

Kaze was crouched while scanning the perimeter with his binoculars.

"You are already awake?" He asked without taking his eyes of the binoculars.

"I came to say thanks for what you did last night"

"You didn't needed to thank me, seeing you too hugging was more than enough"

"Wait, I thought you left the house before the music started"

"I did, I was watching from afar"

"Have you ever heard about something called privacy?"

"I did, but it seems that I've learned bad manners with somebody" Kaze said sarcastically while putting emphasis in the last word.

"Me? Bad manners? Puff. All the girls should be like me, cause I'm a very good example" Ellie replied with even more sarcasm.

"So... Then all girls should shout bad words, have 17 years and be able to kick some ass?"

"Sure, why not?" She said before laughing.

They passed hours talking while Kaze observed the perimeter.

After some time he stand up and walked to the sofa Ellie was before sitting on it.

"So did you saw something interesting?" She asked

"Just Arthur being paranoid, the guy was checking his back every time while he patrolled"

"I wonder why"

"I think it's because I suddenly appeared out of nowhere from behind him. I couldn't resist, he was walking so distracted."

"Oh, so that's why he called you creepy guy"

And they laughed.

"Oh man. It's so difficult to believe that that this is happening, I mean after all that happened to me" she said

"Everything happens for a reason" Kaze said

Ellie suddenly remembered: the brutal winter she had to take care of Joel, when David captured her, when he almost... Raped her.

His touch disgusted her.

Her eyes filled with tears as they started to run down her face.

A hand touched her shoulder.

"Stay away from me!" She shouted trying to escape David

Ellie grabbed her switchblade and tried to stab him many times, but he managed to disarm her.

She started to punch him a lot.

Suddenly he grabbed her arms making them stay still.

"Ellie it's me god dammit!"

She stopped struggling and noted that David wasn't there anymore.

It was Kaze.

Upon realizing what happened she felt to her knees and cried.

It took a long time to calm herself, the memories and the fact she hurt her best friend were too much to handle.

Kaze end up with a cut at his right check, some light cuts at palm of his hands and with a left black eye.

Kaze POV

He hugged her in a attempt to comfort her, these injuries were nothing compared to the pain Ellie was having.

"I'm sorry" said Ellie as she kept repeating that sentence

In the moment he noted that she started to stare at the wall and cry, Sargent knew what was happening.

It was the thousand-yard stare. A symptom that some people with post-traumatic disorder showed, during the stare some people would revive the moments of trauma.

He read about this in history and psychology books.

When she stopped sobbing and cry he asked:

"What's bothering you Ellie? You know that you can count on me, okay?"

She inhaled deeply and started to talk about the brutal winter 2 years ago.

While she talked, Kaze noted how difficult it was for her to talk about David.

The kind good-looking man was a pervert psycho in the end.

When she finished her story he felt bad, it was his fault. He made her remember all that shit.

"I'm sorry Ellie, I shouldn't have-"

"It's not your fault, it's just my past haunting me again. Let me patch you up, that's the least I can do" she said in a sad tone

She first took care of the cut of his face then the cuts in his hands.

While she was wrapping his hands in bandages Ellie talked:

"I could have killed you"

"But you didn't. You hurt me physically? Yes. You hurt my feelings? No.

Whatever happens Ellie, I'll still continue to... Love you" Kaze said as he looked at her green eyes.

"Swear to me" she said in a gentle tone as she finished wrapping the bandages

Kaze touched her hands.

"I swear, by my life"

His hands were holding hers; they're in front of each other standing.

Their heads inevitability came closer and they kissed.

It was a short but innocent kiss.

After their lips separated Ellie broke the silence:

"So we are dating or something?" She said while smiling

"You can say that"

They sat on the sofa close to each other, Ellie's head resting in his right shoulder.

"Wait, if I kissed you... Oh my god, I have-" She suddenly said

"No, you haven't infected me if it's that what are you wondering" Kaze said in a calm tone

"How do you know?"

"First you cannot infect somebody through your saliva, I saw the lab tests results at the hospital.

Second I can't get infected"

"You are immune like me?" She said surprised

"My immunity is different; I do not have cordyceps in my blood or in my brain. It's because of my immunological system is different. Besides scientifically speaking you are not immune, the correct term would be asymptomatic carrier, or in other words you carry the disease but show no symptoms."

"Why you never told me?"

"You never asked" said sarcastically.

"How did you discover that you are immune?"

"Well when I was 16, the Colonel, Mother, Lead and I were trying to reach the Fireflies but I got separated from the rest by a horde of infected and I got bit at my left leg"

It was easy for him to talk about his past, Kaze managed to overcome his emotional scars.

"I patched my leg and tried to find them, I just wanted to say goodbye to them before blowing my head off. I walked alone for 2 days before finding them, when they saw me they came closer. I told them that I was bitten 2 days ago and showed the bit mark"

"What they did?"

"The colonel went to me and used a scanner three times, all tests results were negative.

Nobody could believe that was possible, not even me. I kept distance from them for some time, cause I was afraid that the scanner was wrong."

He could still remember the sleepless nights.

"We arrived at the hospital when I was 17, the scientists performed tests and confirmed that I was immune. But they couldn't use me to create a vaccine because I didn't have the fungus in me"

When the scientists said that he could not help develop a vaccine, Kaze felt useless.

"1 year later the Colonel finished my training and Smith created a special forces squad for a special mission, that squad was my squad."

Smith and Colonel gave him a new purpose.

There was only silence after he finished.

The radio beeped.

"Kaze are you there?" It was Tommy

He gave a sigh as he stand up and walked in to grab the radio.

"Go ahead Tommy"

"I need to talk to you"

"Copy"

"Well looks like the boss is calling" Kaze muttered.

"I'll go with you, I have to talk to him too"

They packed their things and went outside, it was cold and windy.

While walking he felt really happy he found what he always searched for: somebody he could love and trust.

Ellie was like an angel that fell from the sky to warm his cold heart.

"Do you believe in angels Ellie?" He suddenly asked while they walked.

"What? Those winged people? I don't think so"

"Of course they exist"

"Okay, proof it to me" she said while smiling.

"There's one right beside me"

Ellie checks become red.

"You look even cuter when you are embarrassed."

"I'm not embarrassed, I'm just..." She sighed. "Okay I'm embarrassed"

Kaze laughed.

As long as Ellie was there he would be the happiest creepy guy in the world.

* * *

A/N: it took a while to write this, i was experiencing what people call writers block. I have no idea in what to write in the other chapters, if somebody have any suggestions, im open for them.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Sorry for late update I've been quite busy (remember i have to go to work and college).

And thanks for speedy964 for posting a review, but i didn't managed to put what you suggested in this chapter. But no worries it will be in the next chapter.

Any review are welcome.

* * *

Joel opened his eyes; Ellie was nowhere to be seen.

Was what happened yesterday a dream?

But he saw a note near his bed.

"I went out to see Kaze.

Ellie"

He was relieved to see that.

While lying on the bed he could see that it was already day.

Quickly Joel got up and put on some winter clothes, he wanted to tell Tommy the good news and check if there was any work to be done.

"Ellie?"

No answer. She still hasn't returned.

Joel quickly headed to the door, he wanted to finish this so he could spend more time with his baby girl.

There were a quite few people moving around the street: some guards, people carrying all kinds of tools, others were distributing rations to the families.

Some people were staring at him, some of them were afraid of him, others didn't like him.

He sometimes could hear people talking things about him and Ellie. Part of the people knew that Joel and Ellie weren't relatives; he could hear some talking some gossip shit.

Joel took out these thoughts out his mind, what really mattered is that Ellie was safe and happy.

A very cold wind passed making Joel walk faster; he wanted the winter to end soon.

After a couple of minutes that felt like ages, Joel finally reached Tommy's house. It was a simple but beautiful house.

He knocked the door and waited. After a few seconds he heard the sound of footsteps coming closer to the door.

It wasn't Tommy or the sound would be heavier, but the sound of footsteps didn't belong to Maria.

So who could-?

The door opened and a teenage girl with green eyes appeared.

"Joel?"

"Ellie? I thought you were with Kaze"

"Oh he's here too, now come in it's freezing"

It was a unexpected but pleasant coincidence.

Kaze POV

A few minutes earlier….

He knocked the door and after a few seconds it opened.

It was Tommy's wife. What was her name anyway? Kaze wondered trying to remember.

"Hi Maria" said Ellie

"Never mind now I remember" he thought.

"Hi Ellie"

"Tom wanted to see me?" Kaze asked

"Yeah, he's waiting at the living room. But what about you Ellie?" She asked while the two entered the house.

Kaze noted that Maria was looking at him, she was probably wondering why he had an black eye.

"I just want to talk to him"

Some seconds later they were in the living room. Tom could be seen writing on a paper, probably checking the amount of supplies. After all being the leader wasn't easy; a leader had to manage supplies, people, tools, etc...

"Wanted to see me Boss?"

"Just call me Tommy, take a seat I'm just finishing this" he said without taking his eyes out of the paper.

Kaze sat on the sofa and crossed his arms.

On the other side of the room Maria went near Ellie

"Ellie can you help me at the kitchen?"

"Sure"

Maria's POV

Once arriving at the kitchen Maria stopped walking and looked at Ellie.

"Ellie, why Kaze is with a black eye? And why his hands are wrapped with bandages?"

"Well, hummmm... I... did that" Ellie said hesitantly.

"Why? Did he tried to attack you or something?" Maria whispered

"No, he wouldn't try to hurt me, it's just... Complicated"

Maria knew Ellie wouldn't hurt somebody like that without a good reason.

"Ellie, there is no need to be afraid of him. If he tried something just tell me"

"He is not a bad person, I'm the problem"

"What do you mean?" Asked Maria confused.

Ellie took a deep breath and explained what happened that morning.

After Ellie finished talking there was only silence.

Maria didn't know what to say, she knew that Ellie had to pass through hard situations but she never imagined something like David.

She could see the sadness in Ellie's face, it has been 2 years but somehow the past always came back.

"Ellie I'm sorry" Maria said as she hugged her.

But Ellie didn't cried.

Did she got stronger?

"It's okay Maria, at least Kaze and I end up well"

"What do you mean?"

"We... Just... You know... Kissed today" She said a little embarrassed.

"How that happened?"

Maria couldn't understand Ellie just beat the guy but he they kissed? Did he forgive her?

"He promised me that no matter what he would still continue to love me, then you know. We kissed. It was so fucking cool." She said while smiling.

Maria smiled

"You know this kind of thing remembers me and Tommy when we were younger."

At the beginning Tommy and her didn't got along very well, but they end up seeing they true selves.

Then somebody knocked the door.

"I'll go check the door" Ellie said as she started walking before Maria could argue.

Kaze POV

"What happened to you?" Tommy asked while looking at Kaze injuries.

"Shit" he thought.

Kaze needed to think in something really quick.

"Well I and Ellie were practicing... Hand to hand combat"

"And you got beaten by a 17 year girl?" Tom said while laughing a little.

"I told her to hit me hard, guess Joel teach her pretty well"

"Well my big brother survived all these 22 years for a reason"

At least it looked like Tommy believed the lie; Kaze didn't wanted to explain the complicated morning he had.

"So what did you wanted to talk with me?" Kaze asked wanting to go straight to the point.

Tommy cleared his throat.

"How are the Fireflies? What about Marlene? The Colonel of yours didn't wanted to answer all my questions"

"First: the Fireflies are not going to last much longer, supplies were running low, most of their vehicles aren't working and Morale was low. So basically they are fighting a losing war.

Second: Marlene is history"

"What? How she died?"

Kaze didn't want to put Joel in hard situation; he knew that the Texan killed her in cold blood.

"She died while crossing the country, most of her men didn't make it" Kaze said. It wasn't a total lie.

"I see. So... Why did you quit the Fireflies?" Tommy asked.

He could see some sadness in Tommy's eyes.

"They were no different from the military or the bandits; they are all greedy bastards looking for more power"

"What about this town?"

"It's a nice place, I'm pretty happy that I'll be able to live here.

This is what I like to see: a united group just trying to live like civilized people"

"Well I found a house that you and your squad can live, problem is: it need some repairs"

"No problem we will find a place to sleep in the meantime"

"You could sleep in my house you know" Ellie talked as she appeared out of nowhere with Joel.

"Ellie..." Joel said as he was trying to argue with Ellie.

"Comon Joel, Please?" She asked while making her cute innocent looking girl face.

Joel gave a sigh, by the look of his face Kaze knew he wouldn't say no

"But he didn't even said if he wanted that"

"Do you want to stay in my house Kaze?"

"Why not?"

Kaze didn't agreed with the idea at first; he wanted to give Ellie and Joel some privacy. But if staying in her house would make her happy he would do it.

"Okay okay, he can stay. But I'll keep an eye on you Boy" Joel said firmly while staring at Kaze.

Kaze stared back with no fear.

"So Ellie did you wanted to talk something with me?" Tommy asked while Ellie sat near Kaze and Joel sat near her.

"Well it's about the school..."

"Let me guess, you want to quit" Tommy said

"I'm old enough for that besides your history teacher sucks" Ellie said in a serious tone

"Ellie you know how important school is? Besides it's almost over" Joel said trying to argue.

"Joel you know that I can't stand those stupid boys and the fucking boring classes, many of those things they are teaching are useless"

"It's only a few history lessons and it's going to be over in month" Tommy said

"I'm going to die from boredom" Ellie muttered

"How about I teach history to Ellie?" Kaze interrupted.

"Do you really know history?" Tommy asked.

"The Colonel teach me a lot of things, I have sufficient amounts of knowledge to keep Ellie busy for at least 2 years"

"I don't know if it is a good idea" Joel said

"Joel I'm pretty sure Kaze can be a better teacher than the other one, besides I would have killed classes anyways"

Joel stopped to think for a moment.

"Okay but only if I approve his methods"

"Thank you Joel" Ellie couldn't hide her smile.

The rest of the conversation was about things that needed to be done in the town, after that they ate lunch.

Minutes later...

Joel, Ellie and Kaze were exiting Tommy's house.

"We could make reunions like more often you know" Maria suggested to them.

"Well i'm going to end up fat" Ellie Joked.

And they laughed.

Kaze was impressed how Ellie managed to eat all that amount of food.

"Have a nice day brother, and take care of Maria"

"You too big brother"

"Bye" said Ellie

"See you next time boss" said Kaze

And they started walking in the direction of their home.

Home.

A place Kaze never imagined he would have before.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Another chapter for you guys. I don't know how far the story will go but as long as I keep having ideas i'll keep making them.

* * *

Kaze was moving while crouched and using the bushes to hide.

After moving a bit further he saw man standing up. It was a hunter, and Kaze was right behind him

He immediately raised his rifle and fired.

Puff.

The hunter fell forward lifeless.

However Kaze noted that there was somebody laying on the ground besides the hunter. He didn't saw that person before because the hunter blocked his field of view.

He exited the bushes and saw that the person laying on the snowy ground was a girl with red hair. 

"No No No it can't be-" 

Her throat was cut and there was blood all over. 

It was Ellie. 

Kaze quickly opened his eyes and grabbed his shotgun.

He looked around while aiming with it.

He was inside a small bedroom; it was the guest room from Ellie's house. 

As he lowered his gun Kaze stand up and looked at his watch that was on the table

4:46 

"Fucking nightmare" he thought

It was the second nightmare he had, even with the bad things he had done they never came back to haunt him.

But since Ellie appeared in his life he started to experience them again. 

He walked out of his room while putting his shotgun at his back.

After a few seconds of walking silently he got near Ellie's room and slightly opened the door.

From there he could see that Ellie was lying on the bed sleeping like an angel. 

"I'm glad you are okay" he whispered before gently closing the door. 

As he turned around he saw that Joel was staring at him. 

"What are doing?" Joel asked

"Just checking if she was okay"

"Let's go to the living room, we have to talk" 

Once at the living room they sat in front of each other. 

"He's probably gonna interrogate me" Kaze thought

"Do you really care about her, don't you?" Joel asked.

"I... Yes I do"

"Nightmares?"

"She died in my dream"

"I see" 

Joel POV

He noted that Ellie and Kaze became more closer since yesterday.

And after seeing Kaze checking on Ellie a few moments ago, Joel didn't knew if what they had was friendship or beyond that.

Kaze even had a nightmare, well he could have been soldier but he was still a boy. 

"I'm worried about her" Kaze said interrupting Joel's thoughts

"She is pretty safe here"

"I'm not concerned about her safety, what worries me is her... Psychological condition"

"What do you mean?"

"She show signs of PTSD and Monophobia"

"How do you know?"

"I read books, and Mother teach me about psychology"

"And what are those?" Joel asked confused.

"PTSD is post-traumatic stress disorder, some people have it after a traumatic event. The person has flashbacks or nightmares of the trauma and it affects the personality."

"But it has been 2 years since David"

"PTSD can appear and reappear and, besides, when Ellie escaped to the forest she almost got... Raped, if I hadn't reached her in time ..." 

These shocked Joel, he felt ashamed he wasn't there when she needed him.

It also explained why Ellie got closer to him. 

"Besides she still haven't forgot about David, I think what happened back in the forest made what was buried deep inside her resurface" Kaze added

"How do you know about him?"

"Ellie told me, after she attacked me"

"She, what?"

"It's because I had the stupid idea of saying: everything happens for a reason. Then bam, she had the flashback and thought that I was David. That's why I got cut and an black eye" 

Ellie attacked a friend? But that traumatic event happened 2 years ago. 

"What is monophobia?"

"The fear of being alone or living without a certain person. Have you ever noticed that she always want to stay near somebody she likes?" 

Joel felt even worse, most of the time he spent working at the town. Ellie stayed hours alone anxiously waiting for him, which probably made her psychological problems worse. Besides she didn't have too much friends. 

"Can't we do something to cure her?"

"We can make her happy, but the how much she will recover it will depend on her. People react differently to traumatic situations. And also she won't be completely cured, traumas leave scars behind"

Scars... Yeah Sarah's death made Joel a very different person. But he didn't want Ellie to change drastically.

Joel started to blame himself; he lived with her for 2 years but didn't notice anything. Kaze only spent some days with her and he got some details Joel never noted. 

"Just keep her busy Joel, believe me, a traumatized person with nothing to do and feeling useless will end up like me. An ice cube."

"What happened to you?"

"When I was 15, the quarantine zone I was got overrun by infected. The military had abandoned the civilians to their own luck.

I was with my friends but one by one they got bit, and one by one I shot them at the head before they could turn.

My father was with the military, he died at the QZ, and my mother died 1 year before that.

After escaping with the Colonel and his men, Mother saw that I was with PTSD and emotional avoidance. And before you ask, a person with emotional avoidance pushes emotions away." 

"That seemed to have changed a bit" Joel said.

Joel noted that while Kaze was near Ellie he seemed to look more like a normal 18 year boy. 

"Yeah, it seems that Ellie have the power to change people. Right Ellie?" Kaze said while looking at the corner where Ellie was hearing their conversation. 

"Well it looks like I wasn't the only that woke up because of fucking nightmares" she said while appearing out of the corner. 

"And before one of you asks I only heard Kaze talking about his life, I woke up some... Seconds ago" she added. 

"It doesn't seem that it was a very bad nightmare, what was it about?" Kaze asked.

Kaze was right, if it was a serious nightmare Ellie would have cried and screamed. 

"You first" Ellie replied while sitting next to Joel.

"I dreamed that... My rifle disappeared and I couldn't find it" Kaze quickly lied.

"Really?" Ellie commented not entirely believing.

"You may not understand but that rifle saved my ass a lot of times, it doesn't feel like an object it feels like it is a comrade" he added.

"I feel almost the same thing for my revolver" Joel commented while hoping Ellie would believe the lie.

"You guys are weird" she said sarcastically.

"Your turn now Ellie" Said Kaze. 

"Well... In my dream, I was swimming at a lake when suddenly a shark comes out of nowhere"

"What is a shark?" Kaze asked confused.

"Hmmm I saw it in a school book, it's kind of a animal that lives at salt water, have a lot of sharp tooth and looks like a big fish"

"And is it dangerous?"

"I heard that could kill a person, anyways I tried to swim away but he was quicker. When it's about to bite me I woke up"

"That's weird, I mean why a shark would be at a lake?" Kaze asked

"Dreams are weird. What about you Joel?"

"Actually I woke up because I heard sounds of footsteps of somebody" Joel said putting emphasis in the last word while looking at Kaze." 

"Ellie I think you forgot to tell me Joel had hearing of a clicker"

And they laughed.

The sound of the laugh filled the room, as happiness filled their hearts.


End file.
